Too many balls in the air – a collage by Shalom Wiebe

This work was shared with us by our colleague and long-time When Love Hurts collaborator, Shalom Wiebe.

This is a collage I contributed to “Clocking in for Unpaid Labour Project,” an artist-led project that asks community members to ponder unpaid work done on a day-to-day basis. Needless to say, this work is often done by women.

My collage aims to portray the impossible and overwhelming unseen and unpaid labour carried by single moms, particularly those who have left abusive partners and who are subjected to ongoing post-separation abuse while they attempt to rebuild their lives and create safe and loving homes for their children.

This woman is smiling while she performs an impossible task, just as single moms are expected to smile. Smile in court, smile and be kind to her abuser, smile even though her heart is breaking, even though she is lonely and has little or no practical support, smile because she has to keep it together for her kids.

She is walking on eggshells because that is what it feels like to be in ongoing contact with an abuser. She never knows what abuse will be hurled at her next, via court applications or nasty text messages.

The words in speech bubbles are words abusers commonly say to or about the mothers of their children.

All the other words are just a small sample of the tasks single moms carry out on an unseen/unpaid basis. (Aside from the “work three jobs” part – that’s the one part we do get paid for, though often underpaid.)

As a social worker and artistic dabbler, I am often drawn to collage to make sense of my feelings and experiences. Single moms are some of the best jugglers I know, and I hope this collage helps other moms facing a similar impossible balancing act feel seen.